A new appliance and pollen

We have had some cool and wet days lately. One day it got to 13 degrees at 3: 30 and that was the hottest it got. 

Louise’s granddaughter, Kaia was 6 a couple of Saturdays ago and there was a birthday party in the pavilion here. We went over and had pizza for lunch and sang happy birthday. We brought 2 pizzas home as there was so many left over. We had one for tea. I heated it in the new little oven, but  did it for a bit long so it was a bit crunchy around the edges. I did the second one for a bit less time and lower the temperature with a much better result.

The new little oven.

I made  potato and cheese souffle in my little oven one night for tea last week and it came out really well. I am definitely liking this one better than the other one we had. 

Eddie has been cleaning off rust from under the caravan and painting it with some protection. They said it would need to be done for the next COF and he told Dave he would do it. He is very pleased to get that out of the way.

Yesterday I heard a grey warbler for the first time this year. I think of it as a spring indicator. The Maori used it as a guide to start planting their crops for the new season.

grey warbler or riroriro

The grey warbler or riroriro

There is a lot of pollen on the truck and around the edges of the puddles at the moment, so another spring indicater. No wonder we feel a bit stuffy in our noses. We aren't too far from the pine forests where the paper mill in Kawerau gets its logs. With a southerly wind blowing, we get the pollen all around us. Some days the dodge looks quite yellow on the cover of the tray.

We have cleaned all the fly screens, windows and vents over the past week, so it is already for Dave.

A Change of Heart

 

We have a deal with the motorhome. Brian rang last Sunday and suggested that we split the difference between the price and Eddie's offer. Now we have to wait for Dave to come through with the money.

We went over again later on Sunday and did some more measurements. We have bought a Breville multifunction microwave. It is an air fryer, a microwave and something else that I can’t recall. It also cooks up to 6 slices of toast and Eddie thought it did slow cooking too. We will see when it arrives. It sounds more useful than the air fryer that we had before. It fits into the space where the microwave goes in, so should work out well. We won’t need our toaster either, so we will leave that for Dave. We came home with some sheets for the bed, but they aren’t very good quality ones, so I will take ours with us. 

On Monday, the rain came and it has been cool too, so it was a quiet day indoors.

Dave rang to say that he still didn’t have the money. I think he is a bit anxious that we will tell him the deal is off because the money is too slow in coming. Eddie reassured him that all was ok.

Wednesday was wet and cold. I was up at Louise’s looking after reception and it is a cold house. Usually on sunny days it’s lovely. Today I turned the heat pump after lunch. 

Eddie cleaned some rust off the chassis of the van on Wednesday He got one side done. They said at the last COF it would need to be done. He told Dave he would do it.  I don’t think he suffered from vertigo too badly today. He gets it when he has been lying on his back and looking up. He said he took his time getting up again, which helped.

The other job he did today was look up the costs of road user charges for the motorhome and got a terrible fright. It is $315 per 1000 ks, which is a lot more than the cost for the dodge and van combined. We talked about pulling out, but decided to stay with it. Once it has moved to a new site, we will be going about in the bubble.  Fingers crossed it is the right decision.

A lady came into the office today and asked if she could have some shower tokens. Her children had been playing in the sea and were sandy and cold. I said that we didn’t want sand in our showers and told her there was a shower down at the public toilets. She said they are only 9 and 7 and I thought well they have been playing in the cold sea, so a cold shower probably wouldn’t hurt. Eddie said I should have charged her a day fee of $20.  Louise laughed when I told her.

On Thursday we did a turnabout and went to Kawerau to look at the Jayco van and we are going to take it. When we looked at it before the man was away and we could only peep through the window. If we had seen it properly on the day, I doubt we would have put an offer in on the motorhome. It has been done up not so long ago and has plenty of cupboards. The place where the washing machine used to go has been made into a dirty laundry cupboard. Eddie jokingly asked if his landcruiser was for sale and Graham said it could be. Eddie asked how much and he said a price. Eddie said done. So we have a complete unit. The brakes are all done for the landcruiser, so there is no cost there. We will buy a water bladder as the water tank is only 180 litres. We might need a new awning too, but not a lot else has to be spent. Eddie keeps saying he feels relieved. 

Dave rang again on Thursday and said that the lawyer who had been doing the probate had left the firm and they were having trouble sorting out where things were at, but they hoped he would have his money tomorrow. Fingers crossed again!

The air fryer oven arrived and I used it to cook the chicken thighs for tea. We were very happy with the result. It is easier to use than the other one we had.

Wet and cool on Friday, so we have been inside all day. I was going to garden this morning before the rain came, but it beat me.

Dave’s deposit came through today and we sent it on to Graham for the Jayco caravan.

I cooked scones and a loaf of bread in the little oven. The scones were good, but I will need to put bread lower down as the top touched the elements as it rose and the loaf has 2 burnt lines on the top.

Decisions Decisions

 We have had some lovely days this week with frosty starts. The frosts aren’t very big and we see it mostly on the top of cars and caravans.

The man who came to see the van was very impressed and very keen. He rang Eddie to let us know that the lawyer dealing with the probate is away at the moment, but he hopes to have the deposit when he gets back.

On Saturday we went to Kawerau to look at a motorhome. It is in very good condition and it would make a good plan B. 

We also went to look at the house we built in Kawerau in 1978 ( we think it was). It is down a long driveway, so we went to the reserve behind it to look at it from there. There is a big fence now, so we couldn’t see a lot. It is in great need of a clean. The white walls look very green.

Eddie told Dave ( buyer) that everything was included, so the price isn’t negotiable. Then I realized that if we stayed here, we would want to take some stuff with us like the bbq, the engel fridge and our bikes and that would affect the price. So we are going to go to Australia. I think we are feeling better now that we have made a decision. 

We have a bit of rotten floor by the lounge slide out. Eddie rang the man who does that sort of work, but he is too busy as he has lost his worker. Eddie is going to try and do it himself, but ask Clint if he has any questions. Clint said that would be fine. Eddie worked on it last Wednesday and got it done in a day, so he was pleased it was over and done with. He didn't have to ring Clint either, so bonus.

Frank and Sue popped into see us yesterday afternoon at about 4. They had been visiting Sue’s sister in Thornton village and called in on their way home. I gave Sue one of our soft toys. I gave her Canada, which is a bald eagle that our Canadian boarder gave to us many years ago. Eddie used to call Lindsay Canada as a nickname, so I called the toy that too. She told me later that he sits in the cup holder in her car and goes with her everywhere.

I have been scanning genealogy things over the last few months and thought I had finished and then I remembered  all my journals that are under the dining seat. I have 16 volumes. I have started on volulme 1 this week and am about halfway through the first book. I have to stop myself from reading it all the time otherwise I will never get done. I had forgotten a lot of stuff.  I used to write a lot about my genealogy then. 

We went to Kawerau again today and had another look at the motorhome. We are still happy with it and took it for a drive today. It runs really smoothly as it is on air suspension. When we are in the dodge, my smart watch counts all the bumps as steps and I can do quite a few on a long trip. In the motorhome I didn’t do any steps at all. Eddie told Brian that the clutch was slipping and would need to be looked at before we bought it.

We had a clitch through the week. Eddie's PSA levels that are related to the prostate have risen and he will have to have radiation. We have decided to stay put for the time being.

Dave ( our buyer) rang today to say that the deposit he had available wasn't has much as he had hoped and was that ok. We said yes that was fine. Eddie told him we would reduce the price as we are going to keep the bikes and the bbq now we aren’t going to Australia. He said that’s fine and to take whatever we need with us.

Eddie rang Brian ( motorhome owner) and made him an offer. It is on the market for $115,000 ONO. He was a bit shocked and didn’t say yes or no, so now the ball is in his court. If it doesn’t work out we will have to think it out again. We have a few caravans that we have been looking at on the computer.

Bike rides on Matariki weekend.

For Matariki weekend we went for a bike ride to Tauranga to see an old workmate of Eddie’s from Swaps. She has done up her kitchen and living area and it looks really good. Now she has to do the bathroom, as she has discovered a leak under the shower and the floor there is rotten. I think she is lucky that she hasn’t fallen through to the basement. She is going to end up with a new house at the rate she is going.

On Saturday we went over to Rotorua and caught up with old friends, Frank and Sue. Last time we were going to see them Frank had covid, so we stayed home.

My pillion skills are getting better, except getting off and on, which is a bit hard for some reason. Eddie is holding the bike and I am struggling to get off or on. Sometimes it takes 2 goes, so not good when Eddie feels like the bike is going to fall. And here I was thinking I am bendy. Apparently not as bendy as I thought. Most annoying. I am hoping that practice will make it easier.  I suggested we get a trike because that wouldn’t be hard to get on. I planted a seed, so now I have to wait and see what happens. The trouble is they are a lot dearer than a bike, so probably nothing.

We have had the caravan on the market for a long time. The plan is to go to Australia and do a bit of traveling in a van there. We have someone coming to look at it on Sunday, so that has put us into a spin. He sounds quite keen and he is the first person to actually come and look at it. Now we are wondering do we go to Australia or do we get a smaller van and finish looking around New Zealand? We have a lot of family over there and it would be nice to be in the same country as them. We had a good chat about it on Friday and we decided to go, but we keep having doubts. Of course we have to sell it first.